JIMMY HOLLYWOOD
US, 1994, 112 minutes, Colour.
Joe Pesci, Christian Slater, Victoria Abril, Harrison Ford.
Directed by Barry Levinson.
Jimmy Hollywood is an unusual film about the decline of Hollywood. Joe Pesci, in a vigorous role, stars as a New Jersey labourer who comes to Hollywood to be an actor. He has encyclopaedic knowledge of film, can name the stars on Hollywood Boulevard, pays for an ad to proclaim his talents, admires Marlon Brando. However, he works part-time at a restaurant, lazes at a pool with his friend William who suffers from memory loss and anxiety. William is played in an agreeably low-key way by Christian Slater. He also has a Hispanic girlfriend, played by Almodovar star, Victoria Abril.
Jimmy Alto gets an audition but he is not used in the program. With William, he begins to film petty crime in the streets of Los Angeles, sending the tapes to the police. He uses the name Jericho and builds up a cult following. However, police are suspicious, and finally pursue him into the Egyptian Theatre. He imagines a heroic, Bonnie and Clyde-type ending, guns blazing as he comes out of the theatre. However, he wakes up, attempts this in real life – but his gun has always had blanks.
There is a humorous ending as, after his jail sentence, a film is made of his life starring Harrison Ford – with Jimmy Alto complaining to Ford that he is not performing well.
The film was written and directed by Barry Levinson, long-time writer and then director, winning an Oscar in 1988 for Rain Man.
1. A Hollywood story, myths and the smashing of the myths, the decay of Hollywood in the 90s?
2. The Hollywood locations, Hollywood Boulevard and the stars in the sidewalk? The Egyptian Theatre? Streets, apartments, audition rooms? A sense of realism?
3. The musical score, the songs?
4. The title, Jimmy Alto as Jimmy Hollywood, his Hollywood dreams, the final nightmare, the real ending and the happy ending?
5. Jimmy and his acting bug, from New Jersey, his labour? In Los Angeles, paying for the advertisement on the street, his hope? Taking Lorraine’s money? The jobs, waiting at tables, the sensation in the streets, mixing up the orders, the exasperation of the owner, getting the sack? At the pool with William? His friendship with William, their always being together, naming the stars on Hollywood Boulevard, looking at the machine with the documentary on Hollywood…? His relationship with Lorraine, the money, the hopes? Going to the street to look at the ad together? His memories of films, the documentary? His final assessment of himself as not having the required talent?
6. William, his anxiety, memory loss, passive, friendship, his camera, attentive to Jimmy, the naming of the stars on the boulevard, his friendship with Lorraine? A genial character? Lorraine taking him out of the Egyptian Theatre? His watching? His finally getting a job with the camera on the set of Jimmy’s film?
7. The introduction to Lorraine, the holdup at the ATM, the robber and his frustration, the car keys, discovering Jimmy took her money, upset, going to watch the ad with him, hairdressing, hopes? The siege, explaining to the police, bringing William out? Her final job, doing hair on the set of Jimmy’s film?
8. Jimmy and the audition, filmed, his talent, the rejection, the audition later shown on television?
9. The smashed car window, the cars and the attacks, filming the crimes, sending them to the police, taking the name Jericho, becoming a vigilante, his organisation, inflated? Taking it further, Will and the photography?
10. The police, the detectives, their attitude towards Jericho?
11. The chase, the police assuming there was a huge number of followers? Jimmy hiding in the cinema?
12. In the cinema, reminiscences, looking at the final chapter of the documentary, The Myths of Hollywood, seeing the television of his own siege, his pride? Getting Will out? Telling Lorraine he would stay? The dream, the visualising of the guns, the exit from the theatre, the shootout?
13. The police, the crowds of media? Sensationalising the scene?
14. Jimmy coming out, firing the guns, the blanks, the police just waiting for him? The police arresting him?
15. The information about the sentence, the film with Harrison Ford, his telling Ford how he should perform the part?
16. Perceptions of Hollywood, the origins of the legends, the golden years, decay, the seedy areas? Yet the celluloid dreams?
